by une_impasse » Wed Nov 11, 2015 12:20 am
i got to meet the head of Majestic Paris, an incredibly large luxury t-shirt company and supplier (they supply to Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc., they have insane fabric production, they source from Hermes, etc. etc.) and in his mind, the middle is falling out of the fashion world. as he sees it, the low-end, fast fashion business peaks at Zara and everything above Zara but below a Barney's, let's say, is virtually extinct or heading that way soon. (he hates Zara, but he acknowledged that they are quite simply, crushing it.)
he also said, which i thought was very informative, that when you're out looking for a good solid t-shirt for your closet, but you see a plain black t-shirt that's $100-ish dollars, you turn it down in favor of something from like Banana Republic or Zara that's cheaper, or even something like T by Alexander Wang. however, in doing that you're buying something you don't really want in an inferior quality (here's looking at you Wang) instead of something that's going to last you for years and a million wears and washes, because the immediacy feels better than the sound long-term investment.
it was a very interesting psychological look into how and why we buy.